The Worst Lesson Ever
by LadyNightWriter
Summary: ...or...You Are Familiar With The Cruciatus Curse, Mr. Longbottom?


Author: LadyNightWriter

Couple: Only the BEST ONE! ... Neville/Luna

Summary: So Neville got _this_ scar for refusing to torture students with detentions...but was there more to the story? And what were its results?

Rating: PG/K -because romance is sorely lacking in Hogwarts at the moment, and when it presents itself, we jump at it.

Genre: Romance/Humor, with just a dash of angst.

Author's Note: Ah, yes, we begin! Sadly, I lost this story's predecessor before being able to post it. It would have been a talk between Neville and Luna after Dumbledore's funeral. It merely established N/L's newfound crushing on each other, and that they would write over the summer. I may rewrite it and post it as a prequel. This part takes place roughly in the beginning of the school year. Early October, perhaps? I am currently writing a series of N/L one-shots, so tell me what you think and how much you wish to see more (if applicable, of course). Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I am not stupid enough to put up a disclaimer saying what _everyone _knows: that JKR would never post things on and that no one is going to pretend that the characters are theirs...

Bugger.

* * *

**The Worst Lesson Ever**

**...or...**

**You Are Familiar With The Cruciatus Curse, Mr. Longbottom?  
**

"Today, our lesson will consist of using a few_ practical_ curses," Amycus Carrow announced in his usual happily unpleasant manner. And yet, he seemed _more_ unpleasant than usual, if that were possible.

"Because anything we learn in this class could be practical..." Neville muttered loud enough for everyone in class to hear. He did this, knowing that there would be backlash, but he didn't particularly care. However, Carrow simply smiled--or, well, caused the corners of his lips to form what, for a _normal_ human being, would be a smile, but what he did had far too much evil in it to be called a smile.

"Mr. Longbottom. Thank you for volunteering. I am assured that you would know _all_ about this particular curse. Won't you step up here?" As Neville couldn't see any way out of it, and because he found it was better than another cut on his face, he decided to willingly oblige.

"All right." He stood up and walked to the front of the classroom.

"I believe you are familiar with the Cruciatus Curse, Mr. Longbottom?" Carrow asked. Neville let out a hollow laugh.

"Must have slipped my mind, that one. Tell me, whatever does it do?" he asked bitterly.

"Don't play games, Longbottom. You know _exactly_ what it does. Fortunate for you, really, because today we will be practicing said curse."

Neville laughed again. "Oh _really?_ Where are the _muggles_ we'll be practicing on? Oh, I'm sorry, I mean the _mudbloods._" he asked, thinking it ludicrous. Somehow, he didn't get that he was serious.

"Not muggles _or_ mudbloods, Longbottom. You will be practicing on students who have received detentions." For a third time, Neville laughed. But the look on Carrow's face--he looked at him just once, and stopped laughing.

"No...that's too low. You're going _way_ too far--!"

"Silence!" Carrow glared at him. He turned to the door of his office and Neville saw, for a moment, several students with the worst looks of fear on their faces he had ever seen; no doubt, they had not been told what their punishments were to be until Carrow had announced it to the class. When he came back, he was accompanied by a blindfolded blonde girl Neville didn't recognize, though he was rather paying more attention to Carrow, glaring at him intently. Carrow was pointing a wand at her--clearly, she was under the Imperius Curse--but pulled it back, and the difference was obvious. She seemed much more panicky, though less panicky than one would be in this sort of situation, and was breathing heavily as though Carrow had already cursed her. He kicked her to the floor and it looked to Neville as though she had no face at all with her hair thrown forward, and that a hair tie was certainly in order. Carrow viciously grabbed hold of her and removed her blindfold, and there was no doubt as to who it was.

"_Luna?_" he gasped. A second later he saw that it was the wrong thing to say.

"Yes, I _thought_ you knew each other."

"Um--Well, you know, I've--we've met," he tried, brushing it off as though they were mere acquaintances. "We don't really talk that much." He looked at Luna, trying to seem indifferent, while at the same time, praying that she knew he was lying. Carrow seemed to.

"That is a _lie_. You were in the Department of Mysteries with Potter!"

"So were three other people."

"You two have been a part of his little gang for several years! Don't pretend you couldn't care less."

"Either way, you should _know _I'm not going to torture someone...No matter how little I know them. Perhaps you should put Miss Lovegood back in that hell hole you call an office and we learn about something _important_ for once?"

Carrow glared at him. "Fine. Class, I should have done this first anyway. For those of you who will be willing to participate, _I_ shall demonstrate..." He turned his wand to Neville, backing him into the wall. Neville closed his eyes, braced himself, then--

Nothing.

If nothing counts as a girl shrieking in pain.

At the last second, Carrow had turned to Luna and cast the curse on her. As it often happens in fits of anger, Neville forgot his wand and tried to wrestle Carrow to stop him from torturing her. He pushed Neville away and threw a silent curse at his face, giving him another deep gash.

"Students!" he called, glaring at Neville on the ground, who was glaring back. Luna was feet away from him, breathing heavily, trying to recover from the curse. "Which of you wishes to escort Mr. Longbottom out of the classroom?"

Well, wouldn't you know it, Crabbe and Goyle found this an enjoyable task, and gladly obliged. They literally threw him out of the classroom. This wasn't as painful as hearing Luna, and other children who had detention, screaming as willing students began practicing on them.

He knew he should probably have gone to Madame Pomfrey to fix his cut, but he knew he had to wait for Luna...she was in more pain than a little cut. When he heard the class get out, he hid around the corner and waited to see if they would release Luna.

The flurry of students cleared, and Neville could hear Amycus Carrow yelling, "Leave my classroom, filth!" and not a second after, several students scampered as quickly as their tortured bodies would take them. Except Luna. Neville guessed that she'd been hit the worst, having actually been tortured by Carrow himself. As Carrow slammed the door after her, she looked like she'd about faint. Neville ran to her as quickly as possible and steadied her.

She looked up slowly and said, "Neville?"

"Yes Luna?"

"...That hurt."

He didn't smile, though it was so Luna to have said that. "I know."

She didn't smile, though it was so Neville to have said that. "You've been tortured before...When we were in the Department of Mysteries...I knew it must have been horrible, but...I never imagined what it was like."

"It's impossible to do...I'd always wondered, after..." He paused, cleared his throat, and continued, "After what happened to..."

"Your...parents?"

He sighed. "You know about it, then? I should have figured you would..."

Silenced draped over them as they continued to walk.

"...In my fourth year...Your fifth...I read the paper when there was the break out in Azkaban...I imagined it wasn't a very common last name, Longbottom, and it made sense...Then your exchange with Bellatrix Lestrange made it obvious she'd done you wrong...You really want revenge, don't you?"

He didn't answer her. After a while he said, "We need the Hospital Wing or something...A place to rest without the Carrows around..." While he tried to remember which way he had to go, Luna was turned the other way, tugging on his sleeve. "What is it?" he asked, turning around and seeing a door.

"I think it's the Room of Requirement, Neville. Let's go in!" She opened the door and found a cozy little room with remedies for ailments lining the walls. There were two comfortable-looking chairs that rivaled the ones in the Gryffindor common room. "Ooh, I like this room. It's very homey-looking. A bit plain in decoration, but I can live with it." This time, Neville smiled. She'd just been tortured by a teacher and several of the students, and she wanted to talk about the boring decor.

"What are you smiling about, Neville? If you got anymore cuts and an ax you'd look like some sort of creepy ax man when you smiled. Here," she said, taking a bottle from the wall, "I think this is supposed to help."

"Thanks." He sat in one of the chairs and dabbed whatever Luna had given him on his face. At first it stung, but it then changed to a cool, soothing feeling.

"Better?" Luna asked.

"Much. How are you feeling?"

"I suppose I've been better. I wonder if chocolate can help with this like it helps when you've been demented?"

"Demented?"

"You know, if you've met a dementor. And if not, I still think I'd like some chocolate pud--Wait a moment!" She reached into her sleeve and pulled out a sealed container holding what appeared to have been chocolate pudding. "I _knew _I had some lying around!" Luna looked as ecstatic as Luna could possibly look. Neville smiled at her again. "You must be feeling a bit better, then, if you keep smiling like that."

"Well, I think it's you."

"What about me?"

"You've just been through extreme pain, and you complain about the bad decor and are happiest if you'd just get a large helping of pudding. You've just got the strangest outlook on life I've ever seen. And I love it."

Luna smiled. It also looked like she--

"Did you just _blush_ Luna? I didn't think you did that often."

"Well, it was...a nice thing to say, and..." Neville raised an eyebrow. "And, well, you tried to save me from being tortured, and it was...nice...of you."

"Well, I couldn't just let one of my friends get hurt...but I did."

"But you tried to stop it! I'm actually feeling much better now, here with you, and the pudding...and you've still got a scar from it."

"I've got plenty. It doesn't matter. I would have done it for any of you, really..."

She knew he hadn't meant to, but saying that disappointed her. She wouldn't let it show or anything, but the fact that it was her had made Luna feel special, but Neville would have helped out any of their friends...then she felt a bit guilty for being upset by that. But the fact remained that he clearly only thought of her as another one of his friends. A year or two ago, that would have made Luna very happy, but now...Ever since the end of her fifth year, she had to admit a bit of a...crush had developed. They'd both been trying to get Harry to continue the DA lessons. They'd been the only DA members who responded to the call and fought in the battle. They'd sat together at Dumbledore's funeral. Spending more time with Neville...She'd noticed how...she didn't really know what it was about him, but he was wonderful to her.

But to him...No, to him, she was a sweet, odd little girl that believed in strange things that he didn't understand and whom he kept getting forced into hanging out with by circumstances beyond his control...Just another one of his not-really-all-that-close friends...

Or so she thought.

Neville had known about Luna for a while before they'd officially met. She sort of freaked him out a bit...Always talking of odd things that confused him...He felt it best to just leave her be. He knew others made fun of her and called her 'Loony', but he knew what it was like to be made fun of...He wouldn't just turn around and make fun of someone else! No, he just avoided her as much as possible. But he got to know her better in the DA, and he found that they weren't all that different. The outcast-icism was one thing, but she'd lost her mom, too, like he had lost his parents...in a bit of a different way, yes, but the same basic effects...And she was really very nice, he'd come to find. He'd also noticed how nice her blonde hair looked in the sunlight, and how her eyes reminded him of a stormy sea...Whenever he started thinking of her like that, he had to shake it off, for he was being ridiculous. Neville and Luna? Please. What kind of a couple would _that_ be? Besides, she'd never look at him that way. When he looked at her, he saw beautiful, different, and quite frankly, a lovely oddity.

When she looked at him, she saw a clumsy, goofy, rather funny big brother type bloke, not the type that she'd...

It didn't matter. They'd always just be friends, he couldn't help that.

As neither of them had anymore classes that day, they felt no hurry to get back to their common rooms. Neville's dormitory was so empty now, with Harry and Ron and Dean gone. And no one in the Ravenclaw house ever talked to Luna, and if they did it was nothing kind. They enjoyed each other's company, and it was much better than sitting alone.

"I wonder where Harry is right now..." Luna mused.

"I imagine Ron and Hermione are with him, wherever he is."

"Ginny says Ron's got spattergroit, but something about it seems like a lie...I understand why she would keep the secret, even from us."

"It's dangerous right now."

"...Neville?"

"Yes, Luna?"

"Do you think they'll come back? Harry and Hermione and Ron?"

He smiled. "Completely. I know they're doing something important right now...They must. They wouldn't just be hiding, like Seamus thinks...But once they're finished, it could be any day...I know it, they'll come back and help us fix everything that's gone wrong...Snape and the Carrows..."

"I hope you're right. Hogwarts doesn't feel so much like home anymore."

"I can't believe what the Carrows are doing now...Torturing students who probably did nothing wrong? It's madness."

"I'm surprised at how shocked you are, Neville. They're Death Eaters, why wouldn't they?"

"I just...don't like what he did to you...Why did you get a detention anyway?"

"Well, we were in Muggle Studies, and Alecto Carrow was talking about how muggles are scum..."

"Sounds normal so far. Then what happened?"

"Then, she was talking about how, soon, blood-traitors like the Weasley family would be considered no better than the filthy muggles or muggle-borns. But that in her book, they were already worse."

"Well that's horrible! Didn't Ginny say anything?"

"I don't think she could find the words. So I did for her." Luna smiled. Neville grinned with her.

"What did you say?"

"I said, soon, Death Eaters like the Carrow family would be considered no better than filthy dirt under our feet or the dirt-eating lunerchies. But that in my book, they were already worse."

"Fantastic!"

"I don't think she really knew what a lunerchi was, but I believe she got the point since she sent me to detention."

"Brilliant, Luna. Just brilliant." He sighed. "Someone needs to do something about them."

"Neville...You said that when Harry and the others come back, you think they'll help us fix everything."

"Yeah?"

"Well...What if we got started?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it would be much easier if we already had a following when they got here than to start from scratch...What if we brought the DA back? People who say that they'd be ready for a take-over at any given time. And in the meantime..."

"We could do small things...tell them...no..._show _them that there's a rebellion beginning, and that there's no way they could stop it."

Luna smiled. "We could round up all of the old DA members and see if we could get new ones..."

Neville stood up. "You, Ginny and I could head it...We could also do some of the Defense things that Harry taught us again..."

Luna stood up with him, saying, "Have everyone stand up to the Carrows every chance they get, and help each other when the Carrows gang up on someone..."

"It will be perfect! And when Harry comes back, we'll have a whole army waiting for him and we can't lose!"

"We can see who still has the fake Galleons we used to communicate with each other, do you still have yours?"

Neville excitedly reached into his back pocket and pulled out his Galleon. Luna's eyes widened (if that were possible) as she reached for her own pocket and pulled out an identical Galleon. She smiled.

Now, it has been proven several times that the greatest things Neville Longbottom has ever done were on impulses--which is ironic, because he believed he didn't trust them. What he did next was certainly no exception. He kissed Luna Lovegood.

It was an odd, uncommon sort of kiss. Very much like themselves. It sort of began slowly, but he pulled away quickly, realizing what he'd done. There was hardly an awkward silence--Neville was very thankful for that--as Luna spoke up only seconds after he'd pulled away.

"You kissed me."

"I...I know...Sorry," he mumbled. He wished he could look away, or focus both of their attentions on something else, but his mind was blank and it seemed as though their eyes would be locked forever.

"Do you say that to a girl every time you kiss her?"

"Well, I don't really...do this often..."

She smiled. "I couldn't tell." She actually sounded sincere.

Neville looked for something to say. He came up with, "You know...we could just..." he shrugged, "pretend it never happened."

"Must we? I rather enjoyed it."

"You...did?"

She nodded.

He hadn't expected that.

"Though it could have stood to be a bit longer...You seemed to have changed your mind half way through. Did you?"

"No!...no. Not really..."

"Then why did you stop?" she asked, seeming very interested.

"Well...I...Could we sit down?" Luna sat on her chair immediately and turned it to directly face his. He did likewise as he continued, "Luna...I..." He gestured with his hands, hoping they would say it for him. After a moment, Luna mimicked him, looking curiously around the room as she did so. "...What are you doing?"

She looked at him. "Oh--aren't we checking the air for the invisible eavesdropping scorples?"

He stared at her, blinked several times and said, "...No. What I'm _trying _to say, Luna, is...I _like _you."

"I like you too, Neville."

"But I shouldn't--wait...what did you say?"

"I said that I like you too."

"...As more than a friend?"

"Mmm-hmm. Unless you didn't mean it that way, then I've just made myself look _crazy_."

Neville laughed momentarily.

"You were saying?"

"Well...I was saying...probably shouldn't have...probably not the best...we couldn't really..." His disjointed words seemed perfect sense to Luna.

"You're saying that we probably shouldn't have kissed, that now isn't the best time when it was so dangerous, so we couldn't really be more than friends?"

He gaped at her. "Yes! Exactly!"

She shook her head. "And people think _I'm_ the loony one..."

"What?"

"Kissing you was the most fun thing that's happened so far this year (though of course nothing fun happens anymore). Sure, things are dangerous, but that's no reason for us to be apart...If we don't want to be."

"Well...I...For the record, I liked kissing you, too...But it _is_ dangerous. If...what if the Carrows found out? They only thought I knew you and they used you against me. But...If they knew we dated..."

Luna gasped. "This is _exactly_ what happened to Ginny!"

"...What happened to Ginny?"

"Last year, after Dumbledore's funeral? Harry was afraid that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named would come after Ginny to get to Harry so he broke up with her!"

"But we--they broke up? Ginny didn't say anything about that."

"Well, she didn't really want to announce it to the world. She's sad about it, and worries about Harry wherever he is."

"Well that's horrible. No wonder she's seemed so upset lately..."

"I know."

"Yeah, but...Wait, why wouldn't she tell me? We _are_ friends, aren't--"

Luna, annoyed at him, had kissed again so he would shut up. He really wasn't expecting it at all. Fortunately, this one lasted much longer than the first. Actually, they were full-on snogging after a while.

But Neville got his sense back, pulled away, and said, "As I was saying, we really shouldn't do that again."

"But I'll miss it."

"Well--but we've only kissed twice! How can you miss it?"

"...You're right." And what do you know? They started snogging again. They were soon sitting in one of their chairs (they'd forgotten which, it felt as though the room was spinning) and it took even longer for Neville to doubt himself and pull away.

"You're not one for taking no as an answer, are you?"

"No." This time, Neville had leaned in to kiss _her._ How many times has that been, now, four? Yes, four. Damn, they had it bad. After a few more minutes of snogging, Neville pulled away again.

"I'm _really_ bad at this."

"No you're not, you're fine. Better than that, actually--"

"No, I mean we shouldn't be snogging and we shouldn't be dating."

"Oh, we're not dating, Neville. There's really nothing wrong with snogging."

"But wouldn't that mean we're--"

"Of course not. Ron and Lavender did nothing but snog all last year!"

"But they were dating."

"Not really. They never actually did anything together but snog, you see? Snogging is when you are constantly keeping your lips on another person's lips, but dating is when you go out places and...tell people."

"Really."

"Yes. Dating is for public places; snogging is for dark corridors and hidden places behind tapestries."

"So am I hearing correctly? You're suggesting we don't date, just...snog, on occasion?"

"Well, no, I wasn't, but I like your idea!"

"...Why?"

"I'll miss kissing you too much." She gave him one final quick kiss. "I must be off, now. I have _so_ much homework to do."

"Shouldn't I see you off? It's getting late, isn't it?"

"Well, yes, but that's what boyfriends do, Neville. We just snog." She didn't sound resentful about it at all. She actually sounded rather cheerful to Neville. "See you!"

She left the room and a thoroughly confused Neville. He sat back down in one of the chairs, noticing that the other had disappeared, and thought of the day's events. He realized that there was something small and round on his seat. It was Luna's Galleon. He smiled, tossed it up into the air, then caught it again. He was so lost in thought he didn't notice for a while that, in the other chair's absence, a small table appeared containing the latest issue of _The Quibbler_.

_Well,_ he thought to himself, spotting it, _I suppose I'll certainly be needing that._

_Fin._


End file.
